The King is alive, down with the King!

[Ignoramus]

This is a rough idea that I have recently thought up for a MTWII Hotseat Campaign.

Most hotseats tend to take forever to finish, and usually stall waiting for players to be available to take their turns. Not only that, but unless the Hotseat uses Kingdoms, games rarely ever get finished.

On the other hand, interactive PBM's such as LotR and WotB, base their fun(and believe me, it is fun) around the politics and intrigue of a single state, but don't face a challenge from other factions.

So I thought why don't we combine the two?

The result is as follows:

There will be 4 or 5 player-controlled factions: England, France, Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and Venice(Venice will be dropped if there are insufficient players).

Each one of these factions will have their own set of starting rules appropriate to their historical rule. These rules will be similar to the rules for LotR and WotB.

All other factions will be played by the Moderator of the game, who will be me if no one else volunteers.

Players can choose which faction they will join and will be assigned an avatar and join in the rule of that particular faction.

In order to keep the game running quickly, timelines will have to be enforced. But as there will be multiple players per faction, there will always be someone available to play the save, and so there delays should be kept to a minimum. With only 5 factions, one turn could be completed in under a week, or even less with 4 factions. As a result, the game won't feel so disjointed.

I'll start accepting players immediately, and I'll gladly take anyone who wishes to moderate the game, although it will require being available most of the time to keep the game flowing quickly.

England:(3) Carlos Matthews
France:(5) Ibn-Khaldun
HRE:(6?) Cecil XIX, deguerra
Spain:(3) Ramses II CP, Zim, Dafuge

*Brackets indicate number of starting avatars.*

Possible players:
deguerra
Ibn-Khaldun

We will be either using MTW 1.3 or Kingdoms depending on people's preference.

[deguerra]

had a similar idea to this once igno. sorry but i dont have the time now, but if it gets going, ill join eventually.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I also had something like this in my mind once!
I planned England-France-HRE struggle against each other but left that idea.
But I'll join this once I have a little more time!

Edit: If people want to use Kingdoms then I'm out since I don't have it(and not planning to get it since I'm waiting ETW!)

[Ignoramus]

I'm probably leaning towards using vanilla, because it would increase our player base.

[Cecil XIX]

Such a unique and potentially awesome idea deserves to be tried once or twice. Count me in.

And, you should really consider getting Kingdoms. I just got it today, and the mini campaigns are more expansive then I thought. I was pleasently surprised at the size of the Teutonic map (70 so provinces), and I'm sure I'll be able to get a lot of gametime out of the other campaigns too. Definitely a great deal.

Since whether or not to use Kingdoms would be an important decision, why don't we all say whether or not we have it?

[Ignoramus]

I have it, but I know that some people don't like the SecuRom and for that reason haven't purchased it. I really don't mind which we use.

Which faction do you wish to join, Cecil?

[Cecil XIX]

Why, the Reich of course!

[Carlos Matthews]

I shall take England, what difficulty?

[Ignoramus]

It'll be vh/vh, but it's largely irrelevant, as I'll be playing the AI factions.

[Ramses II CP]

What will the moderator have to do? Do you need to use console commands or just play the other nations and keep the AI out of the way of the players?

It's an interesting idea and I'll sign on for Spain unless I think I'm technically okay for the moderator position. I'm generally able to check in here a few times a day but I'd prefer not to have to mess with the console for any fiddly changes.

[Ignoramus]

The moderator will have to play all the AI factions, and try and make them interact with the other players as much as possible. For instance, the Venetians may wish to destroy Milan, and so ask the HRE to divvy the lands between them, but the moderator would be playing both Venice and Milan, so he'd have to do his best for both factions.

The only change I was considering was whether it would be possible to make avatars be able to defect to other factions, so that players can have extra scheming to do, but I don't know whether that would be too difficult/impossible.

[Cecil XIX]

The only change I was considering was whether it would be possible to make avatars be able to defect to other factions, so that players can have extra scheming to do, but I don't know whether that would be too difficult/impossible.

Intriguing... Well, diplomats can bribe generals and family members into joining their factions. Even though that's determined by the AI, if a player wanted to defect you could use the console to pump him full of disloyalty traits. I don't know if that'd make it a sure thing, but perhaps you could finagle a way to keep at it until it worked without having to end the turn.

[Ignoramus]

Has anyone ever succeeded in bribing a general in MTW2? I've never been able to.

[Ramses II CP]

It is very, very expensive. I just had a Kypchak general who was willing to accept bribery in my BC Jerusalem campaign. He wanted about 230k florins. Captain led stacks aren't cheap either most of the time.

[Cecil XIX]

Well, if we wan't to roleplay this happening we could just use the console to give whatever faction the defector wanted to join enough bribe money.

I've bribed at least one general, though, and it was definitely less than 230k florins.

[Carlos Matthews]

Is this going to start?

[Ignoramus]

Sorry guys, I've been away on a camp for the past 5 days. I think we'll still need a few more players before we can start.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Some questions.. thoughts...

Will each nations leader do all the moves for the nation? Decides what to build? Who to recruit? What to move? Where to move? If move at all?
Or will there be a Chancellor/Megas elected for each nation?

I had some others but forgot them

[Ignoramus]

It basically be up to the players of that faction. I will either let the players come up with a set of rules like LotR, or will make individual rules for each faction.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

In that case there should be rules like in LotR for everyone, important rules that can not be changed, and rules for each faction, like the Houses in LotR have their rules, but these rules for the factions can be changed if majority of players in that faction agrees with the changes.

I hope you get what I meant!

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I hope you, Ignoramus, still work whit this idea since I like it more and more when I think about it.

So, I hope to see some update soon(although I'm not someone who would join in the beginning)

[Carlos Matthews]

Still here and waiting to play.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I better mention this that I'm using this idea and trying to set up a similar game in twcenter.
Why there? Because you can still create this game here.

[Zim]

Captain led stacks can be surprisingly cheap in vanilla, as I learned in the MPC...

I'll go for Spain under Ramses if the game gets off the ground.

It is very, very expensive. I just had a Kypchak general who was willing to accept bribery in my BC Jerusalem campaign. He wanted about 230k florins. Captain led stacks aren't cheap either most of the time.

[Ignoramus]

Welcome Zim! Glad to see you join.

Well that's 4 players so far. Can everyone who's joined post whether they're still interested? If I can get a couple more France and HRE we can start!

Please invite all the people who you think might be interested.

[Ramses II CP]

I'm not going anywhere, and with the apparent death of so many hotseats lately I've got time to spare.

[Dafuge]

Well, I've been looking to join one of these for a while. I will go Spain, just to fill a faction up, and because I know who Zim and Ramses are.

[deguerra]

might have enough time for this in the coming months, but not as a faction leader. I'd be willing to lend my lack of skill wherever

[Ignoramus]

Ok, we now have 7 players if we don't use Kingdoms. If we use Kingdoms, then we lose Ibn-Khaldun. I'd like each faction to have at least 2 players before starting, but if you guys think otherwise then I'm happy to set up for game for starting in the next few weeks.

Also, do people think that 4 factions is unsustainable with the current level of interest? I hope it isn't, but the game's been open for a while now without major success in attracting lots of players(10-15).

[Dafuge]

You'll also lose me if the game turns to Kingdoms, although if it starts in January I might have it. Also, I reckon there is a lack of interets and 2/3 faction would be better, in a more close confinment. I was thinking if we took Spain, England, France and asked other player to switch from HRE then we would have sufficent players to get this off the ground. Then if your will it would be pretty easy to confine the other factions although the Moors, Portugal and HRE/Italian faction might be a bit tricky.